Longs Peak

This mountain is my favorite place in the world! I've summitted around 10-12 times by several different routes, including the Keyhole, Kieners, Clark's Arrow, North Face (in winter), and a couple of Diamond routes. Incidentally, detailed advice for the technical climbs can be found at climbingboulder.com. Amazingly, Clark's Arrow, which traverses the opposite side of hte mountain from the Keyhole Route (but joins it at the Homestretch) barely seemed harder than the Keyhole, had few or nio people every time I've been on it, and it passes through equally incredible terrain--you get a close up view of the East Face, the North face of Mt. Meeker nearby, and some incredible and very little known cliffs on the west side, the Palisades. Route finding is a bit tricky but adds to the adventure. Highly recommended. I've seen a woman carrying a baby up this route, and three girls from New York City in long, flowing skirts. Another recommendation: if you've climbed the peak but haven't been to Chasm Lake, GO THERE!!!! If you are planning to do the Keyhole route, do yourself a huge favor, and do it on a post-Labor Day weekday. All my best and scariest moments in the mountains (and probably of my life) have come on this mountain. Beware, this list is long! But I feel the need to reminisce, sitting here at a computer and pining away...Becoming terrified, first time ever on the Keyhole route...getting caught in the worst lighting storm I've ever seen, far above treeline on the same day...hiking it with the Colorado state cross-country champ and watching him get altitude sick...taking a 2 hour nap in the boulderfield on a glorious day...spending three hours on the summit on another such day...hiking the keyhole by full moon with nobody around and watching spectacular lighting over Denver from the summit at night...having the summit to ourselves in winter...carrying a panic-srickin, altitude-sick girl down the boulder at the top of the trough and then taking 3 hours to guide every move of her hand and foot down to the keyhole as storms constantly threatened but never materialized... being absolutely, totally mezmerized and becoming completely hooked on climbing forever on my first visit to Chasm View...being on the face as it turned into a sheer plate of gold on my first Diamond attempt...watching 2X4's of ice whirling down the east face in horror...being caught in a whiteout blizzard on Broadway...pulling onto Table ledge after climbing the Diamond for the first time...staggering up to Chasm View with an 80 pound pack and the worst upset stomach I've ever had in November, only to decide that conditions on Broadway looked too terrifying, and then turning around and hiking back out...simply BEING and climbing and becoming utterly spent on the Yellow Wall, the most incredible climb by far that I've ever done, with flat expanses of golden granite stretching far above, below, and to either side...